As a seller of video game consoles on Half.com for many years, I have had the unfortunate experience of receiving fraudulent transactions.
The advice I post here is compiled from years of experience dealing with HDC, and hopefully will help protect other sellers.

If you sell video game consoles, new release video games, even in some instances textbooks, you may want to consider some of the advice posted.
It can help you if you receive a Half IV notice or Chargeback from HDC.

A "Half IV Notice" is an email entitled Half IV Notice: Transaction Unauthorized Funds, informing you that the transaction was purchased with unauthorized funds,
and requesting you not ship and issue a full refund. This refund will not count against you.

A "Chargeback Notice" is an email Half Seller 12/31/1969 - Need Tracking info: XXXXXXXXX asking you to provide tracking for the fraudulent purchase.
NOTE: if you receive this AFTER issuing a refund, just reply "already refunded" and they will send you a thank-you email.

(Please note, if you sell music cd's, lower priced video games, books, etc, some of the information below may sound familiar, but it is specific ONLY to the higher priced items)



Fraudulent orders usually come from:

(a) buyers with new, HDC-only accounts, with 0 or very low feedback, and recently opened. The buyer would open an account, and purchase an item from you using the "new" account.

(b) hijacked (established) accounts that haven't been used in some time (you can check feedback, and usually no feedback for a MINIMUM of one year)

(c) multiple orders for the same item/console, all in individual transactions, all a few minutes apart on the same day.

(d) HDC/eBay emails before the purchase that may have poor English, and question the obvious... such as... "I saw the item you have listed. Do you still have it", and
"how much is shipping to...."   Remember, shipping IS fixed, and listed on your item, and every single one of those kinds of emails I have received has been from a fraudulent order.

(e) When you receive an order, and then get an email asking you to "send to a different address". If this ever happens, I would immediately issue a refund.
NEVER ship an item to an address other than that given in the email or listed on your HDC sales page.


What to do if you THINK you have a suspected fraudulent purchase:

If you receive an order that may raise a red flag, your best bet:

(a) wait the full 72 business hours to ship. This will give you the chance to receive the "Half IV Notice" as described above.

(b) you can verify the buyer's address using one of the following:
1.whitepages (website)
2. zabasearch (website)
3. google (enter the buyer's address, check the map)

(c) you can email the buyer, and ask them to "reply" to your email by the 72 hour date, but not all buyers/sellers communicate. This also may not give you the information you are looking for.
I used to ask my buyers to reply, and I would check the IP Address of the email, but this is not perfect.

(d) You may email the buyer, asking them for their LAND LINE PHONE NUMBER to complete the transaction. Please note, I used to do this, but it does not always work.
In this day and age, many people either have only a cell phone, or an IP Phone which you won't be able to get the information needed.

(e) If you receive an email directly from the buyer (not from the eBay communication system or Half.com communication system),
you can always check the origination of the IP address, with the following tools:

WHOIS Search:
networksolutions (website)

DNS Information:
dnsstuff (website)

(f) you can email Half.com and ask, but sometimes the responses take longer than the 72 hour shipping window.

When you SHIP your item:

To protect yourself, when you ship your item, I strongly suggest Delivery Confirmation. DC will show the package is delivered, which will protect you in a claim.
If the item is heavy, you can also check out FedEx Ground rates, as FedEx Ground also has $100 insurance automatically.

If the item is of higher value, you may want to consider USPS Insurance, or FedEx Ground w/Insurance. If you so desire, there is also USPS Signature Confirmation and FedEx w/Signature (direct/indirect).

Whatever you do, KEEP ALL YOUR SHIPPING RECORDS! If it is a legit order, great! But, if it's a fraudulent order, you will need to provide proof of DELIVERY (not proof of shipping).
You will need this information for a buyer protection claim, or a chargeback notice.  Also note, if you just have insurance, USPS will not give you a refund if it was a fraudulent order.
USPS Postal Insurance covers loss or damage by USPS only.


Other Notes:

Some scammers have a "pattern" you may notice. They may have a name UserName000, then UserName001, UserName002... they just add one digit to the number at the end.
I haven't seen this happen in some time.

A good majority of the fraud sales I receive has gone down from previous years. The new security measures have helped a bit, but are not 100% as of yet.

As a seller, you want to protect yourself from a debit, and hopefully I helped a few people. If you have any other questions, I will be more than glad to help.

http://shops.half.ebay.com/diskounters

I hope you found this guide useful, and wouldn't mind voting.  Thank you!